Ruslan Ponomarev

Born October 11, 1983 in Gorlovka.
International grandmaster since 1999.

FIDE World Champion in 2001
Winner of international tournaments Kiev (1997), Donetsk (1998), Poole (2000), Kharkov (2001), Kramatorsk (2001).
Divided the first place in Torshavn open (2000).

Professional rating of 1 January 2002. - 2690
FIDE rating of 1 January 2002. - 2727


Chess talents are not born, as in the incubator. Often, like no one else on the horizon, and suddenly there is a whole galaxy of extremely capable players. Ruslan Ponomariov certainly belongs to this very small group. However, even not bring myself to call Ukrainian grandmaster "young but promising". Is guaranteed by its high rating (and on both versions), place in the top ten, and finally the title of FIDE World Champion. Many come to this life, and Ruslan achieved this height, only 18 years! Strengths of the game Ponomareva visible to the naked eye. Ruslan demonstrates a rare practicality, the extraordinary tenacity and composure in the defense, and his ability to squeeze out a point in the best position can only envy. Involuntarily the analogy with the young Karpov (and external to the last turn), the more that the young Ukrainian grandmaster not so long ago worked with the twelfth world champion.

From the young talent is always waiting for a spike. In fact, Ponomarev ascended to the top of passing the largest round robin tournament (not by chance he did not meet the board or with Kasparov, Kramnik nor with any of Anand) - so impetuous was his progress. In 2001, we have witnessed this "breakthrough" Ukrainian grandmaster. The second individual championship of the European student from Kramatorsk showing their best qualities, confidently took the tournament distance and shared first place with a magnificent result of 6 (no injuries, though later lost in the finals). This was followed by a few brilliant performances, including a victory over the black Alexey Dreev in the party that decided the fate of the world team championship. Finally, at the beginning of next year, Ruslan, winning the final match against his compatriot Vassily Ivanchuk, became the youngest ever world champion FIDE. At a press conference after the end of the mast in response to a question whether he will play the champion (Ruslana was asked to whom he was closest in this respect to Karpov and Fischer) Ukrainian grandmaster said that refrain from extremes. We look forward to his fights with the leading chess players of the world.